Question

A ranger spots a forest fire while on a 60-meter observation tower. The angle of depression from the tower to the fire is 25°. To the nearest meter, how far is the fire from the base of the tower?

Answer 1

`60 /{ tan 25^circ} approx 129` meters

Explanation:

We have a right triangle with the horizontal part as the unknown `x,` the vertical part `60` meters and the hypotenuse our line of sight, which makes a `25^circ` angle to the horizontal.

`tan 25^circ = 60/x`

`x = 60 /{ tan 25^circ } approx 128.67` which is `129` meters after rounding.